Tricksters and Trash
« Back to Katara As recorded by Katara of Sharn Leaving goblin occupied 'Boat Murdered' (seriously, who names these places; the dwarves were just asking for bad luck) behind us, we set out across the wastes to the Tharashk outpost where we hoped to find transport back to Sharn - myself to deliver these reports of my expeditions and the others to report the failure of their expedition to their employer. Oh, had we chosen any other outpost to travel to. Along the way, we discovered an injured hobgoblin whom, despite my protests, was nursed back to health and spoke to us of the barbarian tribes in the wastes. He then escorted us a portion of the way to the outpost, leaving us a short distance from it to continue on our own. Unfortunately, over the last distance we were set upon by barbarians; only our fleetness and the talents of our spellcasters kept us safe to reach the shelter of the outpost. Arriving at the fortress, we discovered that they, too, claimed to have had issues with a changeling - whom we soon discovered to be our saboteur from the ship. We were soon to discover that this was no ordrinary changeling, however. How do I even begin to describe this? He was the Traveler. The Traveler. One of the Dark Six, walking the very lands of Khorvaire. The Traveler standing before us, having taken an interest in what my companions were doing. The luck of Olladra herself must have been upon me to be witness to this event - THE TRAVELER. It seems that some artifact or another that the expedition members had uncovered and now carried with them was of some interest to him - a bowl that, when submerged in water, could be used to gather souls or something similar, the exact details escape me at the moment but are of little use to the context of this report. Olladra, seeing the Traveler himself, to be in the presence of a god? What a glorious day - I shall never forget it. ... I'm sorry, I seem to have been lost in my exuberance. Where was I? After our interrogation of the captive deity (hah, captive - the term is a joke applied thusly) and being told that he only ever shows up where things are interesting, things soon did in fact become interesting: the fortress came under attack by the very barbarian tribes we had so recently escaped and who had been laying siege to the outpost. We might have safely sat out the siege had it not been for the untimely early arrival of the supply ship. With the ship in danger, it became clear we would have to ride out and make it to the ship. Oh, the Traveler was right when he said things would be interesting. Truly, I wish to know how it happened - the chieftain of the barbarians charged into our midst, injecting the captain of the beleaguered defenders with something from some damned imp. The captain began to swell up even as it became clear the fort was falling and soon erupted into some horrid abomination that I can only assume was the avatar of some filth demon or another. Being the valiant heroes we are, it fell upon us to slay this foul thing - or at least, that was the plan. In reality, we became entangled in combat with the dreaded barbarian chieftain, harrying him from a distance and slowly whitling him down while fool Ray Stukey drew the attention of the filth beast and charged off to the shore. I do not have details of his encounter, though I'm sure it went splendidly, given the fact that we later recovered him from the waters near the shore. It turns that the ship was dispatched by Shandra d'Tharashk, concerned for the well being of the expedition - though I'm unsure as to her involvement with the whole afair. Needless to say, her arrival was timely, as the distraction afforded us the advantage to slay the chief and break the siege, giving us time to recover the few survivors and beat a retreat aboard the vessel. Once again we were confined to a small vessel for an extended trip, back to Sharn. Luckily, this time, there was no interference from shape changing deities.